Not on My Watch
by Shadewolf7
Summary: Yusuke and Kurama are sent to investigate a strange fluxuation in the Barriers... and the unexpected happens.
1. Prelude

_Prologue_

"No! No way!" Brown eyes flashed red, hair lengthened and grew wild, dark markings flickering into being. "Not on my watch!"

He _moved._

_xxxx_

It had started out in the usual fashion: Koenma calling them for a mission.

It was simple. There were odd fluxuations in the barrier between Ningenkai and Reikai in a park near Kurama's mother's home.

Yusuke was given a strange device and asked to go scan the disturbance, Kurama opting to go with him… 'just because', which of course translated into 'I don't want anything like that near my mother'.

Simple. Easy. Only assigned to them because they were nearest.

Or… it should have been.

_xxxx_

_For the record, neither YYH or LOTR belong to me. It'd be fun if they did—all sorts of things I could do with them—but they don't._

_An idea I've been toying with for a while and finally started to type up. This is just a teaser-type chapter. The rest will be significantly longer._

_xxxx_


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

Yusuke was the first to wake, a very familiar blue wing flopped almost lifelessly across his body, only it's warmth giving away that said wing's owner was currently alive.

Alarm.

Yusuke gently lifted Puu's great wing off himself, carefully moving to fold it in to the great phoenix-like Spirit Beast's body, stroking his limp neck and glancing around the small forcefully-created crater of a clearing for Kurama.

A silver, five-tailed fox lay crumpled at the base of a shattered tree-trunk.

There was a moment's hesitation as the Toushin was torn between remaining with his Spirit-Beast or going to his friend. Logic won out and Yusuke was across the clearing in a heartbeat, checking the fox over for serious injuries before cautiously lifting the wolf-sized Youko and carrying him over to lay next to Puu's still head.

He could sense that the Spirit-Beast, while injured, was not in danger of losing his life.

A silver ear twitched before the fox's face scrunched up, golden eyes fluttering open. Slowly, the fox shifted himself so he was lying on his belly instead of his side, raising his head with a distinctly pained motion.

"You all right?" Yusuke asked gruffly.

Gold eyes regarded him for a moment before the fox gave a cautious nod, swiftly followed by Kurama's deep, sylvan voice echoing in his mind. _Merely bruised, my Lord._

Yusuke blinked at the form of address, then realized he was still in his Toushin form. He sighed and started cinching back his Youki in the manner that had him fading into human form.

"Kurama," he said after a moment, "Can you return to your human form?"

There was a startled pause before the fox's form shifted and changed, leaving behind a tall man with silver hair falling to past his shoulders and piercing golden eyes, a silvery tail swishing behind him. White robes fell gracefully around his slender body, accentuating every slight movement, making him seem slightly in motion even while still. Then form shifted again, height lost, hair darkened to a deep rose-red, eyes shifted from gold to green, robes shifting into loose pants and shirt.

Yusuke nodded, then glanced at the surrounding forest.

"This isn't the park, but…"

Kurama agreed silently. Anyone walking by would be better served seeing two humans and a giant blue bird than two demons and a giant blue bird. "What about Puu?"

Yusuke moved over to sit next to Puu's head, stroking soft blue feathers soothingly as he felt his Spirit-Beast begin to wake up, murmuring softly.

Kurama carefully did not comment on the gentle side that the Battle Demon Lord was showing.

Black eyes opened slowly, Puu thrilling a note that had Yusuke moving to reassure. "I'm fine, Puu. You're pretty banged up, though."

Puu thrilled again and Yusuke stood, the Spirit-Beast's swan-like neck flexing as he raised his head to watch his person.

Yusuke began to pace the edge of the crater, thinking over their arrival.

Kurama and Puu merely watched, having become semi-accustomed to this behavior over the years following Raizen's training.

However, when Yusuke merely continued to pace, Kurama decided to intervene.

"This place is… _wrong._"

Yusuke stopped and turned to face the fox-demon, "No, really?"

"No need for sarcasm, _my Lord,_" Kurama shot back irritably. "The plants whisper of burning and destruction. Of… something that the people who live near here call _'yrch'_. And spiders."

Leaving the question of 'other plant-speakers' and spiders for later, Yusuke returned to the other two, "And what are… _'yrch'?_"

Kurama frowned at the description from a plant's perspective. "They speak only of hate and destruction. They have no eyes to see, here." 'Not like Makai', was left unsaid.

Yusuke nodded understanding and turned his attention to his Spirit-Beast, communing in a silent fashion that they had always known, then nodded sharply. "We go into the forest for shelter until Puu can fly again. Shouldn't be more than a day or two for his wing to get better."

Kurama didn't protest, instead straightening slightly and moving to lead the way, following whispers from the plants towards a place that could suitably be deemed 'shelter' for two demons and an oversized bird.

_xxxx_

"Remind me," Kurama stated dryly, brushing twigs out of his hair, "_not_ to stand beneath that oversized buzzard when he takes off."

Yusuke turned to glare at the fox-demon in human form for slighting his Spirit-Beast, but ended up laughing at his uncharacteristically disheveled appearance. "Nice, Kurama," he managed through his laughter, "That look really suits you."

Kurama offered a token glare, but couldn't help smiling and shaking his head. "Well. Shall we go?"

Yusuke gave the part of the forest they had commandeered (read: cleared of giant spiders) one last glance over to ensure nothing (aside from the lack of said giant spiders) was out-of-place. Nope; as usual, Kurama's plant abilities worked wonders. There wasn't so much as a trace of the two demons' and Spirit-Beast's three-day habitation beyond one long blue feather, which Yusuke picked up and tucked away into a pocket.

The two demons walked out into the forest, not looking back.

_xxxx_

"Where do all these things _come_ from, anyway?" Yusuke asked, almost conversationally, as he punched a particularly large spider between its two rows of eyes.

Kurama shrugged, his whip slicing through two of the smaller arachnids easily. "The egg sacs?" he offered, indicating silk-shrouded clusters that the swarms of hissing and clicking female spiders seemed to be protecting.

"Huh. Think we should maybe take those out?"

"No reason not to," Kurama observed.

A thrilling shriek from above temporarily drew the spider's attention away from the two demons in human form and Puu came crashing down amongst several of them before taking off with the largest of the spiders clutched in his talons. Once he was high enough, he dropped the creature, causing it to explode into a mess of white meat and greenish ichor.

"Gross—Puu!" Yusuke complained, having been splattered with the slick goop.

Puu thrilled something between amusement and apology before stabbing into a smaller male spider with his sharp beak.

Kurama laughed lightly, having deftly sidestepped the same fate, and called on a nearby tree for assistance. Dark branches stabbed into the spiders below, impaling several.

"I'm bored," Yusuke stated as he punched another spider, collapsing its thick exoskeleton with no difficulty before using his Shotgun technique to level the next approaching wave.

"Hmm," Kurama murmured noncommitally, before flipping into the midst of the last large group and using his Rose Whip to dismember them.

Puu thrilled agreement with Yusuke and killed the last of the spiders from the nest they had 'inadvertantly' stumbled upon.

"I suppose they did not provide much of a challenge," Kurama conceded before turning his attention to the egg-sacs. After a moment's thought, he returned his whip to seed form and pulled out one of his Makai plants, a omnivorous vine that looked rather like a mutated version of Honeysuckle with large pods sprouting along its length.

It was more than happy to eat the egg sacs hanging from the trees.

"So…"

Kurama turned and favored Yusuke with a raised eyebrow as he gathered up the Makai vine and reverted it to its seed-state.

"… Now what?"

_xxxx_

_Beta? Anyone? Pretty please?_


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

"This was _your_ idea!"

Kurama rolled his eyes, "They're locals, _my Lord._ And they're not trying to kill us."

"Yeah, and neither one of us understands a damn thing they're saying!"

Kurama repressed the urge to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose, supposing he should have expected this.

"And we can safely assume this is not… Earth," Kurama continued, pretending not to have heard Yusuke's second outburst. "We are in what appears to be this world's equivalent to Ningenkai, but there is no way to tell whether we could get to its surrounding planes or if we can return to our own world. It would be best to… 'make nice' with the locals."

"Fine," Yusuke grumped, folding his arms petulantly, "but _you_ get to figure out how to talk to them."

"Yusuke, are you or are you not a Lord of the Makai?"

Yusuke uncrossed his arms, straightening slightly, "Yes, but _you're_ the diplomat. I just antagonize people."

Kurama had to concede that point. Yusuke wasn't considered a diplomat anywhere except certain regions of Makai, where 'diplomacy' was synonymous with 'beating your opponent into submission'.

The three… _beings_ they had saved from the latest spider-nest were watching their interaction with something between puzzlement and amusement, laced with the barest tinge of wariness.

Yusuke cast their impromptu rescue-es a glance, observing their too-fair features and wise eyes in a heartbeat before returning his attention to Kurama. "They're not human."

"No," Kurama agreed, "but… what they are, I do not know. They aren't demons."

"They feel… _old._ Light. Like stars."

Kurama nodded, sighing. "They are older than I. The plants speak well of them."

"Well, that's something," Yusuke muttered, turning to face them properly.

Kurama took the hint and stepped towards them, hands held out in a non-threatening manner, Rose Whip curled up in one hand, thornless. "We mean you no harm."

"_Man…?"_ one of them began, a confused look on his face.

Kurama glanced back at Yusuke and shook his head, then to the others, trying something different. "I am _Kurama,_" he stated, gesturing to himself and emphasizing his own name before indicating the Toushin in human form behind him, "This is _Yusuke._"

One of them brightened slightly, and indicated himself, _"Alagos."_

"_Galad,"_ the one with the bluest eyes either demon had ever seen said, following the apparent leader's example.

"_Dae,"_ the last stated.

Yusuke nodded slightly and Kurama inclined his head, accepting the silent message. With introductions out of the way, they seemed safe enough—and these were nowhere near their level of power, anyway. Kurama returned his rose whip to a flower, then reduced it to a seed and tucked it safely in its customary spot in his hair.

Yusuke irritably brushed his own shoulder-length hair back, slightly annoyed that Kurama hadn't dared cut it any shorter without proper tools, and stepped up brusquely. "So, now what? We go with them?"

"What else?" Kurama asked rhetorically, knowing neither of them knew anything about this world.

Yusuke briefly turned his attention to his still-hidden Spirit-Beast, telling him to remain that way… just in case.

_xxxx_

Yusuke glanced at the impromptu guides, listening to them make the rare comment in that flowing language of theirs, and sighed.

"Kurama? Any ideas?"

"None of them seem to speak a second language," Kurama stated, "As they would presumably have tried them to see if we would understand."

"So that's a no?"

"If they are taking us to others of their kind, one of them may be able to speak one of the languages we know, but I am not hopeful. We _are_ in a different world."

Yusuke grimaced, "Which means we'd better start trying to learn theirs."

Yusuke was not dumb, despite the front he often put forth. And the 'ADHD'. He had learned English quickly when his demon father had gotten all his teachers to stop speaking in anything but the Western language, and several others besides.

Said father had even forced _Latin_ upon him, though Yusuke had never managed to figure out why. So one more, give-or-take, shouldn't be _too _ bad…

_xxxx_

OK, Yusuke was about ready to take back his previous thought. This language was _annoying._ He had yet to figure out the grammar rules—that is, what part of the sentence went where—and had only picked up a handful of words, which he knew he was butchering the pronunciation of.

Kurama was not much better off, though he didn't tend to butcher the words quite as badly. However, they—with the active help of their three guides—were getting better.

Slowly.

Kurama, however, had noticed Yusuke's growing restlessness and turned to the three who referred to themselves as _Eldar_.

Haltingly, he asked "_Ungol?_"

Yusuke perked up on hearing the word—as far as they could tell, it referred to the giant spiders, and he was _itching_ for a fight.

The response Kurama got was a puzzled glance and shaken head.

Kurama sighed in frustration, not knowing how to say what he wanted to ask. How hard could it be to figure out what the words for 'where are' were?

Yusuke veritably drooped at the lost prospect of a fight and the three _Eldar_ exchanged puzzled glances.

Kurama glanced at his friend and growled softly, the Demonic version of 'Sorry', knowing that half the reason Yusuke was getting so restless was the several-day-long lack of physical contact with his Spirit Beast.

Yusuke grunted an ambiguous sound that could have meant anything from 'accepted' to 'not your fault'.

There was a pause, and Kurama got an idea.

"Would you like to spar when we stop tonight?"

Yusuke brightened, "Hell yeah, I would!"

_xxxx_

_I know, long time between updates. I'm notorious for that, just as a warning to you all. I also came down with mono, so pretty much all I've been doing is sleeping._

_Still, I managed to write an update for this and a bit on my other stories, which will have updates eventually._


End file.
